Its not about being rich or poor. I am not rich, but I CHOOSE to pay for health insurance, and I can therefore recieve the same (best in the world) healthcare as anybody else in America who CHOOSES to pay for health insurance. It can be somewhat expensive, but that is primarily due to the recent craze of frivolous lawsuits. To many people out there living the American dream, and trying to sue for millions. That causes health care providers to have to pay outrageous insurance bills, which translates inter higher health care bills for the rest of us. But the current system is as good as it can be, you may not cover everybody, but that is only because not everybody chooses to be covered. Some people dont eat their vegetables either, even though it is good for them. That doesnt mean the government needs to form a national veggie beuracracy to force feed those of us who choose not to eat healthy. So it goes with health care, In America everything is your choice. In Canada, you pay for that health care out of every single paycheck, whether you use it or not. Furthermore you cannot argue that the private sector breeds competition, and therefore improvement. That is why socialist system is inferior. In America, hospitals and drug companies are constantly trying to improve their product and develope new medical techniques in order to outdo their rivals, and bring in business. America's free market makes the rest of the world's socialism possible, because they rely on us for innovation. Imagine if the whole world was as innovative as us, not just in medicine, but in everything.

45 million people don't have healthcare because they can't afford it,and the number grows everyday,as more employers can't afford to give it to employees,the system is broke UNDERSTAND?

[quote=melchizedek22;40539]45 million people don't have healthcare because they can't afford it,and the number grows everyday,as more employers can't afford to give it to employees,the system is broke UNDERSTAND?[/QUOTE

There are SOME who cannot afford it, but 45 million? I think not fool, I think that the majority of people who dont have it, choose not to have it, because they would rather spend that money every month on a payment on a nicer car or whatever. That is the beauty of our system of government, is that you can CHOOSE. You think that if the government provides the health care that you dont pay for it, thats because your an idiot. Money doesnt just appear in the governments coffers, first it has to come out of your pocket fool. DO YOU UNDERSTAND NOW? YOU GIVE THE GOVERNMENT MONEY, THEN THEY DECIDE HOW TO SPEND IT! UNDERSTAND?????

"We also spend quite a bit on military arms that quite frankly we do not need in todays modern for of warfare."

I'd agree with that. During WWII, it took four rear echelon types to field one combat troop. Now it takes seven.

gEORGE BELIEVES gOV'T IS A GOOD GOD:-(

Are you %$&*ing serious? The entire Democratic philosophy is based on the belief that the government knows better than you do. They want to hike up taxes on everybody (not just the super rich as they would have you believe) and then use that money as they see fit to make the world a magical workers paradise just like the great old soviet union, now there was a great country for a middle class working man to live in. You could be sure that there was no need to keep up with the Joneses, because they were just as miserable as you, unless of course the Joneses were connected to the fantastically corrupt socialist political apparatus, then the Joneses were kicking your ass.

Yeah but who would attack Canada if the U.S. exists?

No one, so thats would prolly factor into it a bit, not that I agree with policing the world.

From a financial perspective its a benefit to let people die of diseases, less of burden on taxpayers. If diseases didn't exists, many more of us wouldn't eat.

So I guess it all depends on how you look at it, how many more people can the world hold?

We do not have socialized defence system. And to say so displays a degree of ignorance of the subject matter. In your own post you managed to name two companies that routinely compete for defence contracts. There are many more to boot, and every single time the government makes a request for a certain type of weapon, or aircraft, or tank etc.... all these companies will build a prototype and put together a bid for the contract. The US gov then weighs the bids against one another and chooses the one that will best help the military accomplish its goals (usually the cheapest bid ). This is a capitalist system, Lockheed, Boeing, Raytheon etc. are the shop proprietors, and the US Government is the informed penny pinching consumer. It is a system promotes innovation and technological advancement while at the same time forcing the competing companies to keep their prices as low as possible. The beauty of capitalism............

Each system has its own strengths and weaknesses- but to out and out say that Canada's healthcare system is only as good as it is because of American researchers is foolishness. Canada spends billions of dollars a year on research and development.

Also I personally know a physician who is responsible for breakthrough surgery to help the Deaf - doing transplants...guess what...Canadian! Patients come from all over the world so that they themselves, their son/daughter can hear, and not with some implant- with a transplant! No Americans involved here- just good old Canadian know how.

That is not to say that the American system doesn't come up with new and innovative technologies as well- just wanted to point out that both sides of the border benefit when either side discovers something.

To state that is only American knowledge that saves peoples lives is a large error.Also, if the American system is so perfect why then do Americans in ever increasing numbers purchase their medication and supplies in Canada? The answer is simple: we don't tax the heck out of the drugs and therefore they are available at a more reasonable cost to the patient.

Now granted the money we spend on R&D is not near the amount spent in the US- but neither is our population anywhere near the amount- nor is our overall budget.


Every person who quits smoking using Zyban...using a Canadian product
Every person using Wellbutrin - using a Canadian product
Insulin- Canadian
1914-John G. FitzGerald opens a laboratory, creates and mass-produces the first indigenous horse-serum diphtheria antitoxin in Canada at costs low enough that the medication can be made widely available. His efforts lead to the creation of The Connaught Laboratories, the world’s first mass producer of insulin.
1934-Sir John Cunningham McLennan and others begin research treatments of cancer with radium therapy

1945-Raymond Parker discovers a defined chemical nutrient medium in which cells can grow and replicate. His discovery helps Jonas Salk develop polio vaccine.
1947-Marion Hilliard helps develop the Pap test, a simplified procedure for the early detection of cervical cancer
1951 -First "cobalt bomb" in the world is used to deliver radiation therapy to cancer patients at Victoria Hospital. (London Ontario)
1987 -The world's first pacemaker cardioverter defibrillator (PCD) is implanted at University Hospital.
2002 -Neurosurgeons at LHSC complete the first artifical cervical disc replacement in North America.
2004 -In a North American first, an interdisciplinary team successfully removes a renal artery aneurysm with the help of a da Vinci surgical robot
2005 -An interdisciplinary team performs the world's first robotic assisted left atrial appendage ligation at LHSC
2005 -LHSC is the first in North America to acquire the AXIOM Artis dTA digital angiography system, a digital diagnostic tool to be used initially for patients suffering from cerebrovascular and spinal illnesses
2005 -LHSC launches the world's first SPECT/CT Master Series Educational Program to train medical students on the SPECT/CT (single-photon emission computed tomography), a new hybrid diagnostic imaging technique
There are many other products that are known world-wide that are known to have come from Canadian research.

In essence Americans and Canadians are alive and staying healthy because of American and Canadian research and technology- not because of only American or only Canadian.

__________________
Lippy opinionated redhead...beware!*LOL*

Nothing astonishes men so much as common sense and plain dealing.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 - 1882)
Common sense is not so common.
Voltaire (1694 - 1778)